The testing of animals for cosmetic products and ingredients has been banned in the UK since 1998 and a total ban is due to be introduced across the European Union by 2009 under the REACH agreement.
However recent moves in the UK in support of animal testing have polarised opinions and whipped up a storm of controversy.
Comments made last week by Professor Tipu Aziz, a neurosurgeon practicing at the Oxford University Nuffield Department of Surgery in an interview with the Guardian newspaper have sent feelings running even higher, after he said that animal testing was necessary for the betterment of medical research.
He went one step further on the subject of animal testing for cosmetics, stating that, "If it's proven to reduce suffering through animal tests, it's not wrong to use them."
Although the UK was one of the first countries in Europe to ban the testing of cosmetics products on animals, moves towards supporting animal testing seem to be growing in momentum, creating a divide in the traditionally animal-loving nation.
Supporters of animal testing rallied in Oxford at the end of February as they tried to gather support for research being carried out at Oxford University's new €26m biomedical research centre.
Students, academic staff and supporters gathered near the lab site amidst tight security as the rally, organised by the Pro-Test group was met by anti-vivisection groups.
Professor Aziz addressed the crowd, whereby he tried to justify his position using monkeys under laboratory conditions to further his research into Parkinson's disease.
But although medical research may still find cause to justify the use of animals in research, the consensus amongst most cosmetics consumers, and indeed many in the industry, is that the use of animal testing for product development is very much a thing of the past.
"Given the choice between a cosmetic product tested on animals and one that has not been tested on animals, I think virtually everyone would take the product that had not used animals in its development," said Zoe Lack, a London-based advertising producer and frequent cosmetics user.
"People are better informed on the subject," she added."Therefore I don't think going back to animal testing of cosmetics products would make any sense."
Those involved with the development of testing techniques that avoid the use of animals would undoubtedly agree, too.
Last year European toiletry and cosmetics body Colipa strengthened its administrative structure in an effort to concentrate on alternative testing for eye and skin irritation as well as allergy testing programmes that can be validated by the European Commission before the 2009 deadline.